The management of pedestrian emergency through dynamic assignment: Some consideration about the “Refugee Hellenism” Square of Kalamaria (Greece)

Generally the safety of public areas plays a fundamental role in the liveability of a city. Different evacuation simulations are carried out over the years in order to mitigate the problems connected to a chaotic movement of pedestrians. The panicgenerated by a possible risky event, often involves variations in the trajectories assumed in the same spaces in safe conditions. This is due to the variations in speed, pedestrian density in the sub-areas and if not properly evaluated, the evacuation process could generate crowds and therefore congestion, reducing the distance from the area object of an event. The present study focuses on the evaluation of different scenarios applied to the named square of Kalamaria (Greece) which is located near the two biggest pedestrian areas of the city. The study approach, based on pedestrian micro-simulation, is focused on the dynamic assignment,implemented in order to shape the path pedestrian choice behaviour by omitting the creation of static routes and using the OD matrix as flow input instead. Different steps are established in order to enquire input data, to calibrate the tool and obtain the results. These are based on the definition of areas and sub-areas in accordance with the pedestrian social force model.Through dynamic pedestrian assignment, different parameters were compared including speeds, density pedestrian and the LOS (Level Of Service), crossing the main square which may lead to benefits or criticalities as the risk level increases.Generally the safety of public areas plays a fundamental role in the liveability of a city. Different evacuation simulations are carried out over the years in order to mitigate the problems connected to a chaotic movement of pedestrians. The panicgenerated by a possible risky event, often involves variations in the trajectories assumed in the same spaces in safe conditions. This is due to the variations in speed, pedestrian density in the sub-areas and if not properly evaluated, the evacuation process could generate crowds and therefore congestion, reducing the distance from the area object of an event. The present study focuses on the evaluation of different scenarios applied to the named square of Kalamaria (Greece) which is located near the two biggest pedestrian areas of the city. The study approach, based on pedestrian micro-simulation, is focused on the dynamic assignment,implemented in order to shape the path pedestrian choice behaviour by omitting the creation of static routes and using the OD mat...